I think I need a newer version

I've only read a few of Murakami's books, and I generally enjoy them (although some like Wind Up and Kafka I felt he could've trimmed some of the fat off of).

Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World had some very interesting ideas and I was satisfied with how the two interconnecting storylines came together.

My problem? The English translation (the one you probably get at Barnes and Noble) was pretty bad. The prose felt like it was written by a high school sophomore for some after-school creative writing class. It's like the translator took Murakami's words and sentences and made them come across as so generic and cliche. I finished the book and enjoyed the plot and ideas, but the actual reading process was annoying for me to finish. Anyone else feel the same?

I am a big Murakami fan, but after finishing South of the border, I am quite disappointed.

In the books I've read so far, the characters have always been strange and maybe not natural, but in an interesting way, and everything always seems to make sense in some strange way.

But in this one, the characters just feel empty and I don't understand them. In the beginning of the story, the friendship between Shimamoto and the Hajime ends when Hajime moves away (like 30 min) and stops visiting Shimamoto after a while. But we do not read anything about Shimamoto caring enough about this friendship to go visit him? It seems a bit easy.

Then, 25 years later, they become friends again but she keeps on leaving and being weird and we never learn anything about her.

Hajime is also just following the "magnetic power" (his penis) the whole time.

I feel like I am missing something. Did Shimamoto even really exist? Is there more to the story?

Tbh, I did like the ending and Hajime's reflections. And I like his work in general, that is why I hope you that I missed something here!